or Essays :
know that in 1752 ten thousand hogsheads of flaxseed,
 each containing seven bushels, were exported
from Philadelphia to Ireland. I suppose the quantity
is greatly increased since that time, and it is understood
 that the exportation from New York is equal
to that from Philadelphia.
Q. What becomes of the flax that grows with that
flax-seed ?
A. They manufacture some into coarse, and some
into middling kind of linen.
Q. Are there any slitting-mills in America?
A. I think there are three; but I believe only one
at present employed. I suppose they will all be set
to work if the interruption of the trade continues.
Q. Are there any fulling-mills there?
A. A great many.
Q. Did you ever hear that a great quantity of
stockings were contracted for, for the army, during
the war, and manufactured in Philadelphia?
A. I have heard so.
Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would not
the Americans think they could oblige the Parliament
 to repeal every external tax law now in force?
A. It is hard to answer questions of what people
at such a distance will think.
Q. But what do you imagine they will think were
the motives of repealing the act?
A. I suppose they will think that it was repealed
from a conviction of its inexpediency; and they will
rely upon it, that, while the same inexpediency subsists,
 you will never attempt to make such another.
Q. What do you mean by its inexpediency?

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